The present invention relates to anti-theft devices for Automated Teller Machines and, more particularly to a device for defacing by blurring or staining, valuable documents such as bank notes or bills in Automated Teller Machines in the event of unauthorized entry or theft.
It has been estimated that in 1991, approximately 8,527 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) were shipped to companies in the United States while an additional 60,994 were shipped overseas, with the number to surely increase.
With the proliferation of ATMs has come a concurrent rise in the attempted and committed thefts of currency from ATMs since the currency within is not guarded. ATMs are subject to attack by burglars or thefts seeking to extract the currency therefrom. Because ATMs are enclosed in a steel safe-like structure that is extremely difficult to penetrate in a short period of time, therefore the phenomena is occurring of the burglar actually extracting the ATM as a whole. After the burglar has extracted the unit, the ATM is then taken from the premises to another, preferably remote location, where the thief has the time to break into the ATM unit and extract the money contained therein.
Various solutions have been proposed in the prior art to cope with such situations wherein money and/or documents are stored within enclosed containers. One such solution involves the use of pyrotechnical means in which an explosive is utilized to inject a staining liquid into the money/document container. However, such pyrotechnical solutions may be dangerous for persons in the vicinity of the system and, in the case of ATMs which utilize sophisticated machinery and electronics, the use of pyrotechnical means is not desirable in that such may destroy the sophisticated equipment of the ATM and the user.
Other known methods are complex mechanical solutions aimed at partially destroying the bank notes by perforating or mutilating the same. These complex systems generally require complicated machinery and a fair amount of power.
Recently, chemical solutions have been devised which generally consist of using discoloring means such as smoke generators for blurring or staining the documents within the container. These products, however, are likely to impair the environment, and in particular the electronic components in the ATM.
Another solution is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,272 issued Oct. 20, 1992 to Bouchard, et al. Essentially Bouchard utilizes a sponge having one or several frangible pockets, phials, ducts or the like. In one embodiment, a piston-like tank pushes an indelible dye into the ducts of the sponge which are then broken or ruptured such that the dye will be delivered to the sponge. The sponge distributes the dye to the documents for blurring the same. Thus, the sponge is an integral part of Bouchard in that the sponge is utilized to distribute the dye over all of the documents within the container. However, such an apparatus as Bouchard utilizing a sponge tends to delay the application of the ink onto the documents as the sponge must first soak up the dye and then when saturated, allow the dye to permeate the container and blur the documents.
It is thus an object of the present invention to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art and provide a safe, quick and effective defacing of documents within an ATM upon an unauthorized breach thereof.